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Auction: 21002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 3

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Nile, (Henry Stroud.) nearly extremely fine

Henry Stroud is noted as a Drummer, Royal Marines, on the books of the 74-gun third-rate H.M.S. Bellerophon at the Battle of the Nile (1 August 1798).

The 'Billy Ruffian', as she was affectionately known throughout her career, was undoubtedly one of the most famous line-of-battle ships in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars: launched in 1786, she participated in no less than three Fleet Actions - the Glorious First of June (1794); the Nile (1798); and Trafalgar (1805) and she is further renowned for being the vessel which took the official surrender of Napoleon Bonaparte in July 1815.

At the Nile, Bellerophon was eighth ship in the British line and, as the battle developed, found herself alongside the massive 120-gun Orient, flagship of the French commander Vice-Admiral Francois-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers. Pummelled by the heavier French guns and her decks raked with musket fire, Bellerophon's captain, Henry d'Esterre Darby was hit and, as successive officers were killed or wounded, at one point command developed on the senior Midshipman, 13-year-old John Hindmarsh.
After an hour of this unequal duel, Bellerophon's mizzenmast collapsed and this was followed shortly afterward by the mainmast. As Midshipman Hindmarsh ordered the cable cut and the spritsail hoisted, the strain proved too much for the weakened foremast and that too collapsed to leave the ship totally dismasted and unmanageable. Bellerophon drifted away into the night, her crew working hard to put out fires and make essential repairs; there must have been a sense of grim satisfaction onboard when Orient blew up in a massive explosion at 10pm.
Bellerophon's crew spent the next five days making her sailable again and dealing with casualties - the 'Butcher's Bill' of 49 killed and 148 wounded were the heaviest losses of any British ship involved in the battle, a testament to the punishment she had received at the hands of the Orient.
Undoubtedly Drummer Stroud would have been in the thick of the fighting - likely in an exposed position such as the quarterdeck or fo'c'sle - relaying orders and commands by drumbeat amongst the ships' Company.

Three further men of this name are noted upon the Admiralty List, all with single-clasp medals: a Commander on the Asia for Syria; an Ordinary Seaman on the Princess Charlotte for the same action; and a Boy on the Dartmouth for Navarino. As a point of interest, Midshipman John Hindmarsh later became a Rear-Admiral and recipient of a seven-clasp Naval General Service Medal: one of only two ever awarded.

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Sold for
£2,600

Starting price
£600